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GENE SIMMONS And PAUL STANLEY Attend WIZARD WORLD L.A.

WizardUniverse.com reports that Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley showed up in street clothes at the Wizard World Los Angeles convention on Saturday (March 17) to talk about their new comic book series "KISS 4K: Legends Never Die", but a contingent of loyal KISS followers wore the group's trademark black and white face paint and brought plenty of questions for the pair.

Wizard Senior Staff Writer Mike Cotton moderated the panel, which also included Platinum Studios' Scott Rosenberg and "KISS 4K" writer Ricky Sprague. The hour-long event kickstarted with a video trailer of the comic, which was certified over the weekend by the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest comic book of all time.

"Why can't KISS conquer the world, and why can't we have the biggest comic book in history?" Rosenberg posed, introducing the book. "The sheets from the book had to be hand-taken off of the press and hand-folded and hand-stitched," he explained. "It was an amazing amount of work."

Stanley introduced Sprague and explained his qualifications for immortalizing KISS comic form. "He's a KISS freak," Stanley said of Sprague's superfan status. "It took somebody like him to breathe life and depth into the characters."

"It's a big deal to me because I'm a really big KISS fan," Sprague followed. "I wanted to make each issue the equivalent of listening to a KISS record."

Stanley applauded the writer's conviction and vouched for his understanding of what KISS is all about. "We've always try to transcend the boundaries of what a rock band should be," he said.

Sprague described he treatment for the comic book's story in detail and elaborated on the mythology already in place that he was able to mine for story material. "The members of the rock group KISS learn that they are attached to these warrior spirits," he outlined, stating that he hopes to bring in elements from the band's history in addition to new characters and situations.

Simmons added his own thoughts on watching himself become a comic book character. "It's one of the great things about America,” he posed. Praising comic books as an American art form, he included a biographical note about their importance in his life. "I actually paid for my college education by buying and selling comic books," Simmons said, explaining how he would buy bundles of old comics and sift through them for valuable Golden Age issues that he would sell for upwards of $1000 apiece.

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